"Not by his wife!"
"Ah, ah, that is something new!"
"Not by his wife? and by whom, then?"
"By his enemies in the Barbadoes."
"By the English colonists?"
"Yes, by the English, because he was himself English."
"Is it so, then, sir; the third husband is dead, really dead?" asked the chevalier anxiously.
"Oh, as to being dead—he is that," exclaimed several in chorus.
Croustillac drew a long breath; a moment's thought, and his hopes resumed their audacious flight.
"But the age of Blue Beard?" he persisted.